The whole "Jacob needs to learn Spanish for Brazil" scene made me face-palm. First of all, Meyer had already acknowledged that Brazilians speak Portuguese earlier in this book when she had Edward be fluent in the language and converse with the Brazilian housekeeper! Second of all, Spanish and Portuguese are indeed similar, since they're both Romance languages, but they're not the same. One of my friends told me that you could get by with Spanish while trying to speak with an Italian, but I'm not sure how true that is, nor if the same is true when trying to talk to a Portuguese speaker, even without the prejudice that the Brazilian blogger described.
I thought that your remark on how Italian was closer to Portuguese than Spanish was interesting, actually. Whenever I've heard Portuguese being spoken, I've thought that it sounds closer to Italian in terms of the speaker's accent and manner of speaking. However, in terms of the vocabulary, I think that Italian seems closer to Spanish. It's very strange.
But good grief, if Bella was so concerned, she could have asked Edward to teach Jacob Portuguese, given that he's suddenly so fluent in it and all. *rolls eyes*
Ms. Meyer, since when did Edward find the time to learn Portuguese? Why did he learn it? Was it because of Esme's island? Do any of the other Cullens speak Portuguese then? And how is it that before their marriage, Bella and Edward never discussed the fact that he knew how to speak the language? It's only on their honeymoon that Bella realizes that he can? This is just a big contrivance.
And going back to the Brazilian blogger's comments, I've actually heard that a lot of other Spanish-speaking peoples aren't that fond of the Argentinians either. This Peruvian girl I knew scathingly described them as "ladies' men" and warned me to stay away from them. *shrugs* Well, maybe that was just her opinion. I don't know.
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Date: 2010-03-28 01:47 pm (UTC)I thought that your remark on how Italian was closer to Portuguese than Spanish was interesting, actually. Whenever I've heard Portuguese being spoken, I've thought that it sounds closer to Italian in terms of the speaker's accent and manner of speaking. However, in terms of the vocabulary, I think that Italian seems closer to Spanish. It's very strange.
But good grief, if Bella was so concerned, she could have asked Edward to teach Jacob Portuguese, given that he's suddenly so fluent in it and all. *rolls eyes*
Ms. Meyer, since when did Edward find the time to learn Portuguese? Why did he learn it? Was it because of Esme's island? Do any of the other Cullens speak Portuguese then? And how is it that before their marriage, Bella and Edward never discussed the fact that he knew how to speak the language? It's only on their honeymoon that Bella realizes that he can? This is just a big contrivance.
And going back to the Brazilian blogger's comments, I've actually heard that a lot of other Spanish-speaking peoples aren't that fond of the Argentinians either. This Peruvian girl I knew scathingly described them as "ladies' men" and warned me to stay away from them. *shrugs* Well, maybe that was just her opinion. I don't know.